SEC Proposes Transfer Agent Rule Recognizing Blockchain Records for Bitcoin (BTC) Markets

Sept. 17 Roundtable Puts 24-Hour Trading on Docket

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday published the agenda and panel lineup for its Sept. 17 roundtable on 24-hour trading, the agency's most concrete step yet toward continuous operation across the traditional securities markets. The session at SEC headquarters in Washington pairs legacy infrastructure providers with newer entrants: NYSE, Nasdaq, State Street, Citadel Securities, Cboe and DTCC will share the table with Robinhood, according to the official announcement. The topics are operational rather than symbolic. Panels will weigh how overnight surveillance should work, what happens to closing-price practices when there is no close, how clearing and settlement function on a system that never shuts, and how maintenance is performed on always-on infrastructure. For the crypto sector the stakes are twofold. Digital-asset markets have traded around the clock since what Bitcoin (BTC) is built on — a network that never closes — first changed hands, and any rules Washington designs for always-on securities trading will inevitably shape the environment in which crypto broker-dealers operate; some could fall directly under whatever framework emerges. There is also a convergence story: retail-facing innovations, from copy trading to tokenized funds, have outrun the institutional plumbing beneath them. Stablecoin settlement rails built by issuers such as Circle (CRCL) already move value on weekends and holidays, while tokenized money-market products have pushed asset managers to ask why redemptions should wait for a business day. Our reading of the participant list is that the SEC is deliberately convening the firms that would have to rebuild their systems — the exchanges, clearinghouses and market makers — rather than staging a theoretical debate. That composition matters: a roundtable populated by the entities responsible for implementation is a stronger signal of intent than another staff paper, and it raises the odds that formal rulemaking on trading hours follows this discussion rather than precedes it.

Transfer Agent Overhaul After Four Decades

Hours earlier the same day, the agency released the proposed rule text for an overhaul of its transfer agent regime — the framework governing the firms that maintain official records of securities ownership. The document updates requirements across registration, recordkeeping, safeguarding and securities transfers, and would for the first time permit blockchains to serve as official records of transactions. Those rules were last substantively updated in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when paper certificates and manual ledgers defined the job. The filing states that the current framework does not adequately address risks from increasingly digital and automated market infrastructure, particularly cybersecurity, operational resilience and the safeguarding of securities and investor records. It also acknowledges the demand side: “Market participants are actively seeking to bring blockchain-native, or ‘onchain,’ transfer agents into the U.S. market,” the SEC wrote, citing blockchain-based recordkeeping, tokenized fund administration and cross-chain interoperability models — distributed-ledger techniques that networks such as Filecoin (FIL) helped normalize. Under the proposal, transfer agents would face expanded reporting duties and new compliance standards, including rules governing restrictive legends on securities and the use of third-party service providers, alongside fresh cybersecurity controls. Chairman Paul Atkins framed the change as modernizing a rule untouched for decades, “including the use of electronic communications and blockchain technology in connection with securities offerings and the transfer of shares.” Commissioner Hester Peirce sharpened the question most relevant to crypto: should transfer agents keep collecting names and physical addresses of securityholders, or may they accept other identifiers, such as email and digital wallet addresses, instead? Comments are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Consolidation is already pricing in the change — Bullish's $4.2 billion acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti signals that scaled recordkeeping roles are expected to grow, not shrink, as tokenization expands. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bitget.

Two Levers Toward Always-On Markets

Taken together, the two moves sketch one agenda: the SEC is rebuilding both the trading clock and the ownership ledger that tokenized securities depend on. Status matters — both remain proposals, not final rules. The transfer agent text binds registered transfer agents under the Exchange Act only once finalized, and no effective date exists until the commission acts after the comment window. But the direction is unmistakable, and onchain records now have a defined regulatory path into U.S. markets. For issuers and platforms building tokenized products, the practical takeaway is to engage during the 60-day window, when textual changes are still cheap.